ABOUT US
The Change Gym
The Change Gym® is a change-readiness and change-management consulting firm with a strong training emphasis. We partner with organisations to embed readiness, implement change effectively, and build the long-term capacity to adapt and thrive.
Our proprietary frameworks — including Readiness Pathways and diagnostic tools — go beyond short-term fixes. We equip leaders and teams with the mindset, skills, and strategies to strengthen resilience, foster adaptability, and create cultures where change is not just managed, but embraced as a source of growth. This work is grounded in a clear philosophical stance about how people and systems change.
Founder and Principal
Steve Barlow, PhD, FIML, CMI, is the founder and principal of The Change Gym, based on the Gold Coast, Australia. A recognised authority on change readiness, change fitness, and change management, Steve has worked across sectors (especially healthcare) to help organisations embed resilience and adaptive capacity.
Before entering consulting, Steve taught conflict resolution and anger management to inmates in a maximum-security prison, and postgraduate courses in ‘Leading and Managing Change’ in an Australian university. He has authored or co‑authored seven books on organisational change and created the Activation Pathway programs delivered through The Change Gym®.
With degrees from the Australian Catholic University, Macquarie University, and the University of Sydney, Steve received an Outstanding Thesis Award for his doctoral dissertation on change readiness. His work continues to bridge academic rigour with practical frameworks that equip organisations to thrive in complexity.
My Philosophy
My work is grounded in a simple but powerful idea: change is not primarily about knowledge, motivation, or strategy. Change is about choice — and choice depends on readiness.
This isn’t just a psychological view. It’s a philosophical one.
Over decades of consulting, research, and reflection, I’ve come to see organisations as living systems of information, relationships, and constraints. People don’t act inside unlimited freedom. They act inside limitation — limited time, limited clarity, limited authority, limited confidence, limited support.
And yet, within those limits, they must choose.
This is where readiness lives.
1. Reality is relational, not fixed
Nothing in an organisation has a fixed essence — not roles, not culture, not capability. Everything is shaped by relationships, context, and the flow of information. This means change is not about “fixing people” but about reshaping the conditions that make new choices possible.
2. Agency is real — but it’s not automatic
Agency isn’t a personality trait. It’s not motivation. It’s not enthusiasm.
Agency is the readiness to choose under real limitation.
A team becomes agentic when it steps into responsibility, commits to a path, and acts despite uncertainty. Without readiness, even the best solutions cannot be activated.
3. Possibility is structured
Every system has an Adjacent Possible — the set of viable next steps it can realistically take. Some options are near, some are distant, and some are not possible yet. Readiness is the capacity to see these possibilities clearly and step into them deliberately.
When leaders don’t choose, the Adjacent Possible collapses. When they do choose, it expands.
4. Meaning and capability emerge through action
We don’t create meaning by talking about it. We create meaning by acting.
Every choice reshapes the future possibility space — for individuals, teams, and organisations. This is why readiness matters so deeply. It’s the hinge between potential and reality.
5. Change is not an event — it’s a practice
Change doesn’t happen because we want it to. It happens because we are ready to choose differently.
My work focuses on building that readiness:
clarity under uncertainty
capability under constraint
confidence under pressure
commitment under ambiguity
This is the philosophical backbone of everything I do.
In short
Readiness is the capacity to choose well under limitation. Agency is the activation of that readiness. Change is the cumulative effect of many such choices.
This stance shapes how I diagnose systems, design pathways, and support leaders. It’s what makes my approach different — and why it works.